N Korea prepares site for launch of ballistic missile

US officials said that satellite images had detected activity at a site in North Korea that suggested the rogue state could be preparing to launch a long-range ballistic missile.

By Peter Foster in Beijing

10:43PM BST 29 May 2009

Speaking after the secretive country launched another short-range missile off its east coast, the seventh this week, Pentagon officials said that the activity of several vehicles in the photographs echoed the preparations seen before a long-range rocket was launched last month.

The country detonated a nuclear bomb underground last Monday. While it is not yet believed to be equipped to arm a missile with a nuclear warhead, the latest activity will still alarm South Korea and Japan, which are both staunch allies of the United States. The moves came shortly after the foreign ministry in Pyongyang threatened to take what it called further "self-defence measures" if the United Nations Security Council takes economic or diplomatic sanctions against it.

The foreign ministry said: "If the UN Security Council provokes us, our additional self-defence measures will be inevitable. The world will soon witness how our army and people stand up against oppression and despotism by the UNSC."

The latest provocations were issued as diplomats at the UN struggle to agree on a response to the nuclear test. While the US has called for "concrete action" against Pyongyang, Russia and China are arguing that harsh sanctions could destabilise the fragile Stalinist state.